Now before you go, huh what ? TLC (tender love 'n care) I do have to explain the introduction title. Samsung very recently released the new 840 series SSDs. The new 840 uses TLC NAND flash (TLC is short for triple level cell) cells whereas the PRO models (as tested today) still use the popular MLC NAND. TLC is short for triple level cell, but it’s simpler to state that each TLC NAND cell is able to hold three bits of data while MLC was only able to record two bits. A TLC NAND flash chip will hold 50% more data than an MLC NAND flash chip with the same number of cells. The increase in density however makes that NAND type a bit slower. In fact as such the 840 Pro series uses MLC NAND, and the more affordable basic 840 SSDs use TLC. With TLC NAND reportedly beings a good chunk slower and having less write cycles, really you might want to be on the lookout for the PRO models, as we'll test today.

We've been testing NAND Flash based storage ever since the very beginning. And it is surprising to see where we have gotten. The SSD market is fierce and crowded though and one brand quite popular in Europe now also has introduced a line of SSDs.